ESCONDIDO  Developers trying to build a few hundred homes on land of the recently closed Escondido Country Club have launched an extensive public relations campaign as a response to efforts by neighbors who oppose the housing.

Using a slick website, social media, phone polls and mailers, the developers are trying to sway people against a proposed city ballot measure that aims to preserve the 100-acre club and golf course as open space.

Leaders of the residents group pursuing the initiative called the campaign misleading and said it shows that the developer plans to spend whatever it takes to defeat their grass-roots movement.

The residents group said it has gathered more than 3,000 of the 6,000 signatures required to place the measure on the ballot.

Aiming to slow that momentum, the campaign launched by the developers — Stuck in the Rough LLC of West Hollywood — says the new housing would boost property taxes and yield $10 million in development fees for the city.

The campaign also says the ballot measure would force the city to spend millions on election costs and potential litigation from the developer if voters approve the measure. In addition, it says the city might have to spend $600,000 per year maintaining the open space.

“The goal is to wake up the citizens of Escondido,” Erica Holloway, spokeswoman for the developer, said last week. “They’re not telling people how much the measure will cost or where the money will come from to maintain the open space.”

Stuck in the Rough bought the property last year and then closed the golf course April 1, saying a sharp drop in membership had made it financially impossible to continue operating.

Holloway said the campaign attempts to provide the public with accurate information.

“It’s a very complicated process, and the citizens should know who is going to foot the bill,” she said. “The housing will boost the local economy, and their measure will only bring costs. There is no way to pay for this ballot measure and reopen the library that the city closed.”

Leaders of the residents group criticized the developer’s public relations campaign.

“It has a lot of half-truths,” resident Jerry Swadley said. “The only thing that’s costing Escondido is that the developer wants to make the country club into something other than a golf course.”

Swadley said the proposed subdivision’s economic boost would be outweighed by destruction of the area’s green space, including trees, ponds and wildlife areas. He also said years of construction would bring dust, noise, traffic and crime.

In addition, Swadley said, the city would have to spend all the additional property taxes providing more police, firefighters and other services to the roughly 1,500 people who would live in the new subdivision.

“The negatives would outweigh the positives,” he said. “Their arguments just don’t make sense.”

Dave Ferguson and Ken Lounsbery, two local attorneys representing the residents, said Tuesday that the developer’s arguments were weak.

“What they’re saying would be true of any housing development,” Ferguson said. “Of course it would be worth more as housing, but cities want open space to improve quality of life and boost overall property values. You could make the argument that Kit Carson Park would be more valuable as housing.”